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including The Conductor, a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

`Maymester' to be offered next year

By Lisa Warren, Office of Undergraduate Admissions

Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 08 - October 16, 1997

Virginia Tech will offer an intensive four-week summer session, beginning May
11, 1998, the Monday after spring Commencement, and ending Friday, June 5.
Sixteen courses will be included in this pilot "Maymester," which is being
developed to better serve students and boost summer-session enrollment, said
John Fulton, vice provost for academic affairs. Course offerings include two
study-abroad experiences, three courses that fulfill core-curriculum
requirements, two math courses, and one internship opportunity. A complete list
of Maymester courses is included below.
To enhance learning in an intensive format, most of the courses will
incorporate innovative instructional technologies or unique field experiences,
or both. Two courses are designed to precede and prepare students for summer
internships in specific disciplines.
"Our research indicates that there are many students who want or need to
complete additional course work but whose primary objective in summer is to
earn money for the following year's tuition," Fulton said. "The early-summer
intensive session promises to provide an ideal format for serving these
students, who otherwise would not take advantage of the university's summer
program. If the Maymester pilot program is successful, it may be expanded to
include more course offerings in future years," Fulton said.
In a telephone survey conducted in May 1997, 88.3 percent of students polled
said they thought that an intensive Maymester was a good idea and 68.3 percent
said they thought they would attend if it were available.
The following courses will be offered in the 1998 Maymester: ALS 2984
Microcomputers in Agriculture (Note: sub for ALS 1514); BIOL 2804; Ecology
BIOL; 4774 Molecular Biology Lab EDHL; 3534 Drug Education; GER 2984
Accelerated Elementary German (core-area 2); HORT 4984 Special Study: History
of English Gardens (study abroad); HUM/BLST 2984 African American Music; HUM
1704/IDST 3114 Introduction to Appalachian Studies/Methods in Interdisciplinary
Studies (core-area 2); IDST 3004; IDST Internship; MATH 1114 Elementary Linear
Algebra; MATH 1224 Vector Geometry; PHIL 1204 Knowledge and Reality (core-area
2); PSCI 3625 American Foreign Policy (has optional internship component); SOC
3424 Juvenile Delinquency; TA 3105 History of Theatre and Drama (study abroad);
UAP 4354 Interdisciplinary Environmental Problem-Solving Studio (has optional
internship component).
The new Maymester will be offered in addition to the university's two
six-week summer sessions and 12-week summer semester. (In 1998, first-session
dates are May 18-June 27; second session is June 29-August 8.)
The 12-week semester extends from May 18-August 8. A tentative course listing
for Summer Sessions 1998 will be published Oct. 21, 1997, in the Collegiate
Times, in conjunction with the spring-semester registration period (October
22-29), and students may register to attend the Maymester or summer sessions
during the summer/fall semester pre-registration period (March 17-24).
Information about Summer Sessions is available on the web at
http://www.summer.vt.edu.